Though I Walk...

Psalms 23:4 says, "Even though I walk through the dark valley of death, because you are with me, I fear no harm."

For a long time I understood this passage to mean that when I walked through the valley of death, I would not be harmed. From February 2004 to March 2005, I began to realize that this verse did not mean I would not be harmed in the valley, but that I did not have to fear the harm that might come.

What caused my growth in understanding this verse? Thankfully, it was not by being harmed, but it did require a walk through a valley of death called Iraq . My walk through this dark valley lasted 13 months. What took me to Iraq was the mission field that God called me to several years ago. My mission field wears camouflage and carries weapons. That mission field is the United States Army, where I minister to soldiers and their families.

I am an Assemblies of God minister serving as a chaplain on active duty in the Army. I am one of 144 Assemblies of God military chaplains serving in all branches of the Armed Forces. We go where our soldiers, sailors and airmen go, often with their families. For me this meant deployment for 13 months with the unit I was assigned to - 2 nd Battalion, 2 nd Infantry Regiment (Task Force (TF) 2-2), part of the 3 rd Brigade Combat Team (3 rd BCT), 1 st Infantry Division (1 st ID).

What brought me to the deserts of Iraq began 28 years ago. When I was 10 years old, God placed a call on my life to be an active duty Army chaplain. Even at that young age, I understood what it meant to be called by God into ministry, and I accepted the call. Another 22 years passed before the call was fulfilled. During that time, I enlisted as a soldier, attended college and seminary, and was ordained as a minister. Although there was fulfillment as a soldier and fulfillment as a civilian minister, there was not complete fulfillment in either. Complete fulfillment came when I combined the two and accepted a commission as a chaplain in the United States Army.

There is great diversity in ministry as a chaplain. A chaplain is more than a pastor or counselor; he or she is a youth minister (most soldiers are 18 to 25 years old), a friend, a confidant, a mentor, a fellow soldier, a staff officer and more. Combine this with the variety of units in which a chaplain may serve. I have served as a chaplain in a Military Police battalion, a Signal battalion, a Basic Combat Training battalion and an Infantry battalion. This creates great diversity of ministry.

A chaplain's ministry is challenging, yet it has many rewards. I have seen more people saved and baptized than I would in a lifetime of civilian ministry. There are two times when a soldier is fully open to the Word of God: when they go to Basic Combat Training and think they are going to die and when they go into combat and are fairly certain they are going to die. I have had the opportunity to minister in both situations, and the rewards are awesome as you see soldiers come to the Lord.

My ministry took me to the deserts of Iraq . A chaplain's responsibility is to be the spiritual advisor to the commander and to make sure soldiers are spiritually prepared to walk through the valley of death. The best way to take care of the soldiers spiritually is to be where they are.

During my deployment to Iraq , I went with my soldiers to An Najaf to quell the uprising there. On Easter Sunday 2004, instead of celebrating in the normal fashion, I was driving a Hummer in a convoy to An Najaf through the middle of a firefight. Command Sgt. Maj. Faulkenburg, the unit's senior enlisted soldier, was with me. The unit took time to celebrate Easter the following Monday evening. In November 2004, I again went with my unit when we were called upon to help the 1st Marine Division take back the city of Fallujah .

Ministry in the military does not just happen behind a pulpit in a chapel. It happens in the back of a Bradley Fighting Vehicle or in a guard tower in the middle of the night. It happens while on patrol with the soldiers or simply holding a soldier while he grieves the loss of a friend. Sometimes a chaplain's ministry is done by speaking the Word of God and other times by modeling the Word while living side by side with the soldiers. The hardest times of ministry is performing memorial ceremonies for the soldiers we lose. My unit lost 19 soldiers during our time in Iraq, including my good friend and a great man of God, Command Sgt. Maj. Faulkenburg.

There are challenges in life and in ministry. Those challenges do not compare to the rewards of following after the call God has placed on your life. Being in the middle of God's call can be scary and sometimes lonely, but it's worth the price. Whether you have been called to full-time ministry or to teach in a public school system, the challenges of following that call will be outweighed by the rewards of being in God's will.

If you have a burden for military personnel and their families, seek after God regarding how He would want you to meet that burden. The minimum that I ask of you is to pray for the chaplains, their families and those they serve. Through these prayers, God strengthens us as we serve the Lord in bringing God to soldiers and soldiers to God.

If you are interested in being a military chaplain, contact the Chaplaincy Department at Assemblies of God headquarters. The Army is currently in need of chaplains in the reserves, National Guard and active duty. As Colossians 3:23 says, "And whatsoever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men."

-- For more than 20 years, Chaplain Brown has served in the Army - both in the National Guard and active duty. He was licensed in 1992 and ordained by the Northern California/Nevada District in 1996 and has been in the U.S. Army Chaplain Corp since 1993. He began as a chaplain candidate, was commissioned as a full chaplain in 1998 and came on active duty in 1999. He is currently assigned to the United States Army Chaplain Center and School for the Chaplain Captain Career Course. He and his wife, DeDee, have been married 19 years.